


Valenveira Bartender AU

by whoreforcowboyswrites



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Game: Resident Evil 3 Nemesis, Game: Resident Evil 3 Remake (2020)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:28:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26283421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoreforcowboyswrites/pseuds/whoreforcowboyswrites
Summary: Recently unemployed and looking to distract herself, Jill Valentine finds herself going to the bar and chatting with handsome bartender, Carlos Oliveira. Though initially getting off on the wrong foot, the two eventually come to understand one another and bond over their shared experiences.Alternate universe set before the events of Resident Evil 3 where Carlos is never associated with Umbrella and instead meets Jill in a chance encounter at the bar he tends.
Relationships: Carlos Oliveira/Jill Valentine
Comments: 22
Kudos: 65





	1. Ladies Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unable to work in silence, Jill finds herself at a rowdy bar to work on the Umbrella case, causing the bartender to take an interst in her.

Jill entered the rowdy bar, tucking her police files under her arm as the chatter of patrons and smell of beer filled her senses. The establishment in question, Bar Jack, had been open for a few years now, replacing an old pizza place that she ordered from before its eventual closure and transformation into the taphouse it was now. She didn't know why she had never stopped into the bar since it's opening considering the short walk from her apartment, perhaps she held subconscious grudge for replacing her favorite pizza joint in the city, but she figured that just for tonight, she could put aside her feelings if it meant working on the case. 

She never was one to be able to work in silence. The quiet of the empty police station when she was the last S.T.A.R.S member left in the office at night always gave her an eerie feeling, like someone, or _something_ , was waiting to jump out at her and attack. This feeling was only made worse after the Arklay Mountains Incident and her suspension from the police force, causing her to work solely from her apartment with the only noise coming from the leaky faucet. Tonight, when she couldn't take the isolating silence of her room any longer, she decided to go to the loudest place she could think of. 

Making her way past the groups of people crowded around, she sat on a stool at the bartop in the corner of the room and took in her surroundings. From what she could tell, the place seemed to be your average, hole in the wall taphouse with the same drinks and drunks you would find at any other bar in the city. The brick walls were covered with photographs and hanging memorabilia that she assumed the owner had collected over the years while music played from a jukebox and patrons took turns at the pool table. Business seemed to be doing particularly well.

Settling into her spot, she removed her leather jacket and placed in onto the stool beside her, signaling to any unwanted men that she wasn't interested small talk while she focused in on her case. As she spread her files out in front of her, a tall, dark haired man behind the counter greeted her. 

"What can I getcha?" He asked, throwing a rag over his shoulder. He was a well built, younger looking man wearing a tight fitting, olive green tee-shirt that outlined his muscles beneath. Dark brown curls dangled in his face, the color complimenting tanned skin and chocolate brown eyes, though she wondered how he ever saw where he was going.

"Just a beer," She replied, quickly looking him over before returning to her papers. "But keep 'em coming."

"Just a beer, but keep 'em coming." He repeated, "You got it.

* * *

Shortly after finishing her first bottle, the bartender brought her another and set it in front of her before asking, "So, are you a cop?"

"What?" 

"Not too many people come in and spend their time flipping through files, so I figure you gotta be something. A cop?" He supposed. "Nah, you don't look like the type. Maybe a detective?" 

He was right, most people didn't spend their weekend reading over their work, but Jill wasn't most people. "I guess you could call it that." She supppsed. She didn't really know what to call herself since leaving S.T.A.R.S., but she figured 'detective' worked as well as anything if it would get him off her back.

"So, a private investigator? I could see that." He nodded as he leaned his hands against the bartop. Raising a brow, he looked at her skeptically, "You're not here for me, are you?"

"Why?" She raised a brow, annoyed by the interruption. "Who have you pissed off enough to get them to hire a P.I to investigate you?" She questioned, closing her file as she glared at him.

"Hey, I was just messing around, didn't mean anythin' by it." He apologized, jokingly putting his hands in the air in surrender. "I'd just never seen you in here before and I always try to introduce myself to new faces. Name's Carlos, by the way."

"Well, Carlos, It looks like you're needed over there." She said, nodding her head in the direction of a patron waiting at the bar,

He quickly glanced over his shoulder before turning back to her with a smile, seemingly unphased by her sharpness, "Looks like I am."

* * *

She wasn't drunk, but she had drank just enough to make the endless words strung across countless pages of documents bearable. Though, nothing seemed to answer the questions that repeated in her mind. Why was Irons so adamant on dropping the investigation into Umbrella? Was he somehow involved, being paid off maybe? Just how far would Umbrella be willing to go to keep the Spencer Mansion Incident under wraps?

As she attempted to connect the dots, the bar slowly cleared out as the night went on, leaving her with only the occasional sound of glass clinking as beer bottles were cleared or the scraping of wooden stools against the floor as they were tucked away for the night. Far from the commotion she had come for at the beginning of the night, but it was nice while it lasted. 

"Hey, Supercop," Carlos called from across the bar as he cleaned a whiskey glass, "Last call. We're closin' up in twenty."

"I'm not a cop," She muttered under her breath before checking the watch on her wrist. " _Shit_..."

It was almost 2 am, far later than she had planned on staying. Quickly gathering up her papers, she collected her things and shoved them into her satchel.

"How much do I owe you?" She asked as she fished around for cash in her bag.

"Don't worry about it," He answered, "Consider it an apology for earlier." 

"It's fine," She dismissed, shaking her head. She could pay for her own drinks. "How much?" 

"Did I forget to mention that it's also ladies night?" 

"Since when?"

"Since you won't let me cover you for your drinks." He answered confidently.

She gave a dry laugh as she put on her jacket, "Okay," She conceded. She figured if he wanted to pay that badly, let him. Less money spent on her part.

"Okay." He repeated. "Have a good night, officer...?" 

"Jill. _Just_ Jill." She replied, looking back at him as she walked out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I rewrote most of this chapter because I wasn't happy with it, so hopefully this added some good stuff to the story lol. Next chapter is mostly done, so it should be out soon!  
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Only Came For Free Drinks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Going back to Bar Jack, Jill finds herself having to stay put as she waits for an unexpected storm to pass, causing her to spend more time with Carlos and even begin to bond with him over their shared pasts.

Jill found herself in the streets of Raccoon City, rain falling around her as she looked up to see the neon Bar Jack sign that glowed in the night, water cascading down it's letters. The sky, which had been perfectly clear a few short minutes ago when she had left her apartment, had quickly turned gray as soon as she was halfway to the bar.

_For fucks sake,_ she had thought to herself when she felt the first droplets begin to hit her cheeks, _just my luck._

Pulling off her coat, she held it above her head in an attempt to shield herself from the elements as she jogged towards the building, but it didn't do much to protect her now as she was properly soaked. Hastily pulling open the door, she sought refuge inside the bar as the warm, familiar smell of alcohol welcomed her in. Carlos, who had been speaking to a lone patron at the bar, quickly ended his conversation upon noticing Jill stood there as she dripped onto the hardwood floor. "Look who's back, didn't think I'd see you again." He greeted as he looked her up and down. 

"I'm just full of surprises, I guess." She muttered, shaking off the excess water that clung to her bare arms. 

"Here," Carlos called over to her as he reached under the counter, "Try to dry off." He said, holding out a rag to her. 

Meeting him at the bar, she took the towel and draped her soggy jacket over a stool. "Thanks," She said quietly as she brought the towel to her head and scrunched her wet hair in it. 

"No problem," He said with a sympathetic look, "I take it you could use a drink after walking through that. Same as last time and keep 'em coming?" He asked. 

"You read my mind." She sighed, tossing the rag onto the counter as she pulled out her case work from her bag. This certainly wasn't how she had intended her night to start off. 

The bar was no where near as crowded as it had been the last time she was there, with only herself and two other patrons sitting at the bar. Yet another great turn for the night after a surprise thunderstorm was that the bar she had walked through the rain for was completely and utterly quiet. That feeling of uneasiness that came along with the silence began to creep into the back of her mind and no matter how ridiculous she told herself she was being, she couldn't stop the feeling from growing. 

Eventually, she gave up on the notion of getting any work done and instead tried to distract herself with the news on TV that hung on the wall or by speculating on the two men at the bar, trying to decipher why they found themselves drinking on a Tuesday night like herself. None of these things were actually able to hold her attention though, especially not with Carlos continually catching her eye. 

Throughout the night, the two couldn't seem to stop catching one anothers glance before they would quickly turn back to whatever it was they had been doing before. She would notice the slight smile that would form on his lips when their eyes would meet, causing her to shake her head before returning back to her drink in hand. Though, despite her best efforts to ignore it, the tension was becoming more and more apparent as the night went on. 

As she finished her first drink, Carlos once again interrupted her thoughts, though this time with more than just an over the shoulder glance. 

"Hey," He said as he placed another beer in front of her, "I just wanted to apologize for the last time you were in here. I shouldn't have been getting in your business." 

"You already paid for my drinks last time, don't worry about it." She dismissed as she took the beer. 

"Still, I just wanted to say I'm sorry." He explained, looking at her with a certain softness in his eyes that made her feel he was being genuine. 

"Well, you did think I was investigating you." She pointed out. 

While yes, she agreed that he shouldn't have been prying, she also realized there wasn't any way he could have known how important the Umbrella case was to her. Considering he thought she was a cop, he probably just figured she was just catching up on old police reports for petty crimes and neighborhood complaints that had piled up over the years. Besides, he most likely chatted up every woman that walked into the bar, it wasn't like he was singling her out for any reason. 

"-I know I can come off a bit..." She continued, trying to search for the right word. " _Strong_ , sometimes, so I'm sorry, too." She apologized, playing with the bottle in her hand. 

"I noticed that," He chuckled, "But hey, don't worry about it. I'd probably be the same way if I had to deal with guys trying to talk me all the time, too." He sympathized, obviously understanding of her previous brashness towards him. 

"What makes you think I do?" She asked, intrigued by his comment. 

"Well, I see how how put your stuff on there," He nodded his heads towards the seat beside her, "Which I assume you do for a reason." 

She glanced at the stool before looking back to him impressed. _He's_ _observant_. "It works on keeping most men away. Aside from you, apparently." She joked as she took a swig. 

"Besides," He said, examining her as she looked to him with piercing blue eyes, her brown hair still wet from the rain as she pressed full lips to her bottle, "I can see why they'd be interested." 

"Mh-hm," She scoffed, "So, do you flirt with every woman that walks through that door?" She questioned, more curious than annoyed like she would have been preciously. 

He shrugged his shoulders as he laughed, "I'm just saying, I can see where they're coming from. And no," He said leaning over the counter, "I only flirt with the ones that seem interested." 

Resting her elbows on the bartop, she met his eyes and challenged, "And I seem interested to you?"

"You came back, didn't you?" 

She gave a dry laugh under her breath before breaking away from him and relaxing back into her seat, "I only came back for more free drinks." 

He smirked at her answer, clearly enjoying their back and forth before noting, "Well, God knows I can't afford another Ladies Night, so let's hope I don't mess anything up this time." 

She smiled back to him as she raised her bottle, "Here's to hoping."

* * *

After their conversation, the tension in the air seemed to dissipate as Jill was once again able to drink in peace. At one point, she had even managed to zone out enough that her mind wasn't plagued by thoughts of Arklay and Umbrella for the briefest of moments. That was until the sound of the neon 'open' sign behind her flipping off caught her attention.

"Is it closing time already?" She asked. _Shit_ , had she lost track of time again? 

"The storm's picking up out there, so I'm gonna call it early tonight," He answered before looking around the room, "Nobody else is here besides you, anyways." 

"...Right." She murmured, realizing that she had somehow become _that_ person that was always last to leave the bar. 

As she stood to leave and collect her things, Carlos called out to her, "Hey, you already walked through that rain once tonight, you can stay here for a while and wait it out if you want." He suggested. 

"Oh," She said upon recognizing that she _wasn't_ getting kicked out of the bar, "Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks." She answered, sitting back down again. 

"No problem," He said as he made his way behind the counter and grabbed a beer, "You mind if I have a drink with you?" 

"Yeah, go ahead." She answered, grabbing her jacket from the stool and placing it on top of her bag on the floor. As he took a seat beside her and popped open his beer, she inquired, "So, do you own the place?" 

"Nah," He replied as he settled into his seat. "The old guy in the picture, Mikhail, does." He said, gesturing towards a framed photograph sitting beside the bottles of alcohol behind the bar. A group photo of Carlos, the old man, and a few other people stood together in front of the establishment on what she assumed to be its opening day. Carlos wrapped his arm around the short, gray haired man as he flashed a smile and gave a thumbs up, giving her the sense that the two were close. 

"And he's okay with you closing up _his_ bar early to drink with patrons?" She asked, raising a brow. 

"He's an understanding guy." He said with a coy grin. 

"Sure he is. How'd you end up working here?" 

He shrugged as he drank, "I guess I just kinda got here by chance. I moved to the city about three years ago and saw an ad in the paper from a guy looking to hire ex-soldiers who could bartend and I needed the money, so I took the job." He explained. 

"You served?" She had noticed the chain that hung around his neck that disappeared into his shirt, but never considered that they were dog tags. 

"Everyone working here has." He replied, "Mikhail likes to give vets a job here, keep 'em off the streets and give 'em a place to get back into the real world." He explained, "But yeah, I was with a guerilla back in Columbia before coming here." 

"You're a long ways from home." She commented. No wonder he didn't seem like the RC type. "I served, too. Delta Force with the U.S Army." 

"No shit?" He asked with an impressed look. "I guess you really are full of surprises. You still active?" 

"No, I only served for a few years before I was recruited for S.T.A.R.S., but that fell through, so-" She stopped herself before divulging into the details, supposing she should cut back on the drinking if it was going to make her actually open up to anyone. "...It's a long story." 

"Hey, I'm a good listener." He said, "Comes with the job." 

She smirked at his attempts to crack her open, "I'm not drunk enough to let the bartender become my therapist just yet." 

"I don't get paid enough to be a therapist and I'm sure as Hell not qualified to give any advice," He laughed, but she sensed a feeling of self doubt, guilt even, in his words. "I just do the listening while people tell me their problems." 

"And I take it you do a lot of listening to other peoples' problems?"

"Like I said, comes with the job."

* * *

"-I finally had to pull him out of the bar _by myself_ to get him away from that asshole before he knocked him out right there," Jill recalled, laughing as she remembered the sight of a drunken Chris trying to fight a guy who had been bothering her at a bar, "God, that man can not handle his liquor." 

The two had been talking about their previous military experience as they waited for the storm outside to subside, passing the time with stories of Carlos' old team in Columbia before it was disbanded and Jill's stories of S.T.A.R.S. shenanigans she and the team had gotten into. Though she wouldn't admit it, she enjoyed having someone around to relate to and distract her from everything fucked up in her life right now, even if it was just for the night. It gave her a much needed break from reality. 

"Remind me to never serve this guy anything if he comes in." Carlos responded, laughing as he imagined the scene. 

"Yeah, you don't have to worry about that." She replied, causing him to give her a confused look. "Oh, he's uh," She took a swig before answering, "He's vacationing in Europe. I'm going to meet him there soon, actually." She explained. 

"Oh, really?" He said, tilting his head before taking a swig himself. "Well, I'll have to meet him when you two get back, he sounds like a Hell of a time." 

"Yeah, we'll see." She said quietly. 

In all honesty, she had no idea if she was ever going to return to Raccoon City after meeting up with Chris. Depending on if they even found anything on Umbrella, for all she knew, she could be spending the rest of her life traveling around the world in search of evidence against them. God forbid, Umbrella could even get to her before she could get to them, leaving her and the truth behind the corporation buried. But that was all far too much to explain for now. 

"Looks like the storm's pretty much gone now." Carlos said as he looked out the window behind them. 

"Yeah, I guess it is." She commented as she glaced over her shoulder. She supposed she had been too distracted by their conversations to notice the absence of trickling rain and thunderous crashes of lightning outside. Finishing the last drink of her beer, she set her bottle down and looked over to him. "Anyways, I should probably get going." 

"Yeah, of course." He agreed, nodding his head. "Thanks for having a drink with me." 

"Yeah, of course." She repeated, grabbing her bag from the floor and pulling out her wallet. "Here." She said, holding out the money for her drinks to him. 

He looked to the money, then back up to her as he asked, "So, I take it this means I didn't mess up this time?" 

"Well, there's always next time." She teased, placing the money on the counter as she stood to put her jacket on. 

"Well then," He said with a soft smile as she began to walk away, "I look forward to it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I've rewritten this chapter about 500 times to get it to the point I felt I could post it lol. With class staring up again, it's been super hard to find time to write, but I hope this was worth the wait! I've also decided to make this AU 4 chapters instead of just 3. Spoiler alert, next chapter will include smut ;)   
>  Thank you so much for being patient with me and reading this far <3


	3. Came For You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carlos invites Jill to the bar to play pool and the two get into a little friendly competition. After a few drinks and some personal questions, things begin to heat up between them and their relationship takes a turn.

After the night they had shared waiting out the storm together in Bar Jack, Jill and Carlos began to come to an understanding of one another.

Jill no longer saw Carlos as just an obnoxious flirt with a pretty face like she once had, rather, she began to see him as the kind man he was who genuinely cared for and enjoyed the company of everyone around him. On the nights when she would come in and sit at the bar to work, she noticed how he recognized every face that walked in through the door and how he greeted each person as if they had been life long friends, reunited after years apart. She saw how he would stand and listen to everyone's troubles as he served them, giving them his full attention as spoke as if they were the only person in the room. How he would spend endless hours chatting with patrons, yet never once seemed drained or annoyed by the interactions, only ever continuing to work with the same warm smile on his face he wore when he had first started the night.

When it came to Carlos beginning to understand Jill, he came to realize that she only wore that rough exterior to protect herself and that she cared more than she let on. Keeping everyone around her at a safe distance was just her way of preventing herself from getting hurt again, but what had caused her to build up these walls in the first place was still a mystery to him. He knew of other friends that were like her after serving, being changed and guarded after what they had witnessed in war, and he sensed that whatever had happened to her was recent, leaving the emotions still raw. He wondered if it had anything to do with the case she was so hyper fixated on, but tried to keep his mind from wandering as he had seen just how much she valued her privacy when he had asked questions in the past and he quickly learned to be respectful of those boundaries she had put in place. 

By now, the two had developed a routine at this point with Carlos always keeping Jill's spot in the corner open, informing the other bartender, Tyrell, to do the same if he ever happened to not to be the one working on a night when she would come in. Carlos began bringing her beers throughout the night as she worked without any comment as to not interrupt her, only giving the occasional flirtatious remark when he could tell she was frustrated by the case and could use a break. She would entertain his comments and banter back and forth with him for a while, beginning to enjoy the break it would offer her and though most of the time she spent with him was shared with every other patron in the room, she began to enjoy Carlos' company as if it were just them together. She even found herself coming not only for the noise of the bar, but for Carlos, too. And tonight, she decided that she would come just for him.

* * *

Leaning forward, Jill focused intently as she placed her hand on the baize of the billiards table and rested her cue along her slender fingers. Aligning the tip of the wooden stick with the white cue ball that laid only a few inches away, she pulled back before taking her shot, causing the triangle arrangement of balls to scatter across the table with a satisfying clink. 

"You're stripes." She declared as a solid red three ball rolled into a pocket.

"You know," Carlos spoke as he chalked his cue across the table from her, "This is the first time I've ever seen you without a stack of files in front of you."

Now that she thought about it, this was actually the first time she had been away from the Umbrella case since she had started the investigation. When Carlos had called earlier this evening and invited her out, explaining that Mikhail had closed the bar while he was out of town and that he wouldn't mind her coming to drink while the place was empty, she had initially declined because she didn't think she could possibly leave her work for a night. It took a good hour of convincing herself that it was okay for her, good even, to step away from the case for just one night until she was finally able pick up the phone and tell Carlos that she had changed her mind.

"Well, you invited me to play pool, it didn't seem like the best time to get any work done." She explained as she straightened out, holding the wooden cue close to her body.

"I half expected you to bring it with you anyways," He teased as he came around the table, hand briskly brushing against her lower back as he passed by. "But I'm glad you didn't, it's good to see you take a break for once."

"I guess everyone needs a night off every once in a while." She said as she brought a glass of whiskey to her lips.

"Hey, if anyone deserves a night off, it's you." He responded as he leaned over the table, "You ever gonna tell me what that case is all about anyways?" He asked, looking up at her before taking his shot.

"It's, uh, complicated."

"I feel like I've given you enough free booze over these past few weeks to at least get a hint." He joked.

"Still not enough booze for me to even try to explain it." She sighed before taking a drink.

As much as she wanted to tell him everything about Umbrella and unburden herself of all of the atrocities she had witnessed in the Arklay Mountains, she knew she couldn't possibly expect him, or anyone else to understand what happened to her that night. Even if he was half the kind and understanding man she thought him to be, she figured that he would think she was insane if she tried to tell him about the events she had lived through, and the only thing worse than Carlos thinking she had lost her mind was the possibility of putting him in danger by dragging him into this mess. After all, she didn't know how far Umbrella was willing to go to keep her or anyone else quiet, and she couldn't handle another casualty in her life. Not again. 

Reaching for the whiskey bottle on the counter behind them, Carlos turned to her and offered to refill her glass, "This help?" 

"It's a start," She chuckled before accepting his offer.

As he poured the brown liquor over the ice in her glass, he proposed an idea, "You up for a little friendly competition?"

"Depends on what you have in mind." She replied.

"How about whoever wins this next game gets to ask the other person whatever they want?"

"Whatever they want?"

"Within reason, sure." He answered as he refilled his own glass.

"And you're willing to bet _your_ skills on that?" She asked, questioning his logic as to why he would bet on this game seeing as he had lost the two previous rounds before this.

"You just worry about yourself, Valentine." He challenged with a smug grin, "Unless you're afraid you might lose?"

She scoffed, "I'll be sure to think of some questions while I'm kicking your ass."

* * *

The following round was a fast paced one as the two quickly, yet precisely took their shots, clearly reveling in the friendly competition as both of their competitive spirits began to show. They would take turns talking trash and attempting to distract each other with childish comments as the other tried to focus, only ever allowing the room to fall silent as they would both take a drink before immediately returning to the match. Soon though, Jill came to realize that Carlos had been hiding his true skill at the game in the previous rounds of the night as he made her work for the win they both so desperately wanted.

As the game was coming to an end with Jill needing to pot the final black ball and Carlos needing his final stripe until he could move onto the eight ball. Seeing as her next turn was a sure win, Jill felt secure in her victory as Carlos lined up his shot.

"So, should I just ask my question now, or...?"

"Hey, you haven't won yet," Carlos pointed out, brushing off her confidence and replacing it with his own, "I got this."

"Mm-hm." She dismissed as sat back and drank.

Painstakingly drawing out his turn, Carlos realigned himself multiple times as he made Jill watch in suspense, eventually causing her to yell at him to "hurry the hell up" before she took the shot for him. Laughing at her impatience, he finally struck, causing the the final two balls split perfectly as each went into their respective pouch, effectively winning himself the game.

"Shit!"

"Looks like you owe me some answers then." He boasted, giving her a smug grin as he came around the table.

"You were trying to get me tipsy with that last drink you gave me so I'd lose!" She jokingly accused.

"Please, you handle your liquor better than I do!" He said laughing, "And why would I drink with you if I was trying to sabotage you?"

"Fair point," She snickered as she tilted her head back and finished off the last of her drink, "Alright, fine, fair is fair." She conceded. "Ask away."

"Okay, I'll ask again. What's that case you're working on about?"

"It's, uh," She shook her head as she searched for an answer. "It's an investigation into a pharmaceutical company." She eventually answered.

"Well, that's vague as shit." He laughed, wondering why she had taken such an interest in a case to do with a pharma company. "So, what'd they do? Lie about the side effects of one of their drugs or something?"

"Yeah, that'd be an understatement." She remarked coldly. Setting her empty glass down on the side, she leaned her hands against the table and continued, "They did some shady shit that ended up costing people their lives, people I cared about's lives, and I'm going to find out why."

"Shit, I'm sorry..." Carlos apologized, now realizing why she was so invested. "Well, I guess I'm glad you're on the case to bring 'em down, then." He responded, not wanting to push the subject any further, causing her to breathe a sigh of relief that he hadn't asked more. "Do you mind if I ask you something else?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." She answered hesitantly, thinking that had been the end of the conversation. "What is it?"

He leaned back against the brick wall behind him, crossing his arms as he looked to her curiously, "Why'd you come back after that first time you came here? I kinda thought I'd ran you off after that first time we met."

"I told you, I came back for the free drinks." She explained as she rested her elbows on the table.

"I don't doubt that," He chuckled. "But you could get free drinks from any guy in any bar you wanted just by looking at 'em." He explained. Normally she would have just chalked this up to Carlos' usual charm, but this time, his words felt like more than just a passing flirtatious comment as he looked to her with soft chocolate eyes. He spoke as if her beauty wasn't just a matter of opinion, but rather a fact that everyone who was in her presence knew. "So, why'd you come back to this one?" He asked.

She wished she could tell him exactly why she had came back. That it was the short walk from her apartment to here, or the commotion that the bar attracted when she needed the noise to distract her, Hell, even that the drinks were somehow different here, but none of those reasons were truly why she came back.

"I don't know, I guess there was something about this place that just felt... right." She supposed, unable to pinpoint the exact reason. She thought about how the stool in the corner felt like it was meant for her to be there and how she felt Carlos was meant to be the one behind the counter to serve her drinks and distract her with his flirtatious banter while she worked, culminating into a feeling inside her that she couldn't quite put into words.

Safe, perhaps?

"Something feels right about you being here, too." He said earnestly before realizing that he may have just made a fool out of himself by being so honest. Clearly alcohol made him loose lipped like it did her.

Grabbing the whiskey from the counter, Jill made her way towards him as she filled her glass. Leaning against the pool table in front of him, she filled his glass as she looked to his eyes, "Is there anything else you wanted to ask me?" She asked, assuring him that he hadn't said anything wrong.

A sheepish smile grew on his face as he answered, "Uh, yeah, I guess I got one." 

"Shoot."

"So, you and that guy you're meeting with, the one in Europe-"

"Chris?" She asked as she set the bottle of whiskey down behind her.

"Yeah, Chris." He nodded his head, hesitating before finishing, "So, are you two a thing, or...?"

Jill laughed out loud at this, "That's what you wanted to ask?"

"What?" He laughed, "You asked if I had anymore questions-"

"No, you're right, you're right," She chuckled to herself, "Chris and I are just good friends." She answered, holding back a grin at his nervousness. "Why do you ask?"

Carlos shrugged his shoulders as he replied, "No reason, just seemed like- I don't know, vacationing in Europe seems like a pretty romantic thing to do."

"It's more to do with work than a vacation." She answered.

"Oh, you're both working on that case?" 

"Yeah, he's still my partner even if we're not in S.T.A.R.S. anymore."

"Right, yeah. That makes sense." He replied, trying to seem as nonchalant as he could, causing an awkward silence to hang in the air before Jill eventually spoke up. 

"...Would you care if we _were_ more than just friends?"

He laughed to himself before taking a drink, "I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't have been a little disappointed."

"Only " _a little"_ disappointed?"

"Alright, maybe more than just a little." He admitted. "Is it that obvious?"

"I see the way you look at me when I walk in here." She replied with a smug grin, "Besides, you've been trying to get in my pants since the moment we met."

"Hey, I wouldn't go that far." He defended in an attempt to hide that he had been drawn to Jill the second she walked into the bar for the first time clutching her files as she secluded herself in the corner. They both knew however that there was no point in lying about this fact though as Carlos' feelings were always apparent to them both, whether or not they were willing to admit it. 

"So, are you finally gonna ask?" 

"Ask what?" He inquired as he pressed his glass to his lips. 

"If you can kiss me." 

Carlos raised his brow in surprise at this, swallowing his drink as he processed what she had just said. As much as he enjoyed their flirty conversations and knew they had an obvious chemistry, he never actually expected Jill to reciprocate his feelings as he thought he'd never stand a chance with her. Although, he was more than happy for it fulfill her request. 

Standing from his resting position against the wall, he took a few steps foward, looking Jill up and down as she tempted him to close the gap between them with piercing eyes. Setting his glass down on the pool table behind, he stood in front of her and placed a finger under her chin as he spoke in a deep tone, "Can I?" 

"Took you long enough,"

Leaning down, Carlos tilted his head as their lips met for the first time, a soft kiss in which he cupped her cheek as she tasted the warm liquor on his breath and ran her fingers along his chest. Jill sank more and more into the kiss as she gradually allowed herself to enjoy the luxury of his touch, an intimacy she had been denying herself from for so long with their once gentle pecks developing into more passionate, hungry kisses with each collision of their lips against one another. Fingers began to explore new places as she took his hands and placed them on her waist, inviting him to feel her body as she wrapped her arms around his neck and ran a hand up the back of his head, playing with the curly locks between her fingers. Slidding calloused tips up the back of her shirt, his cold touch against the small of her back caused her skin to prick as she felt shivers of excitement course through her.

Taking his free hand, Carlos carefully caressed down her torso, enjoying the curves of her body until he grabbed her waist and hoisted her up onto the table, bringing her eyes to level with his. Now standing between her legs, he pressed himself against her as he spoke in a cautious voice, "Is this alright?"

"Yeah, yes," She nodded breathlessly before closing the gap between them once more.

As their lips glided over one another, Jill slipped his red flannel off his shoulders, allowing the fabric to fall to the floor below before turning her head to the side and exposing her neck for his mouth to explore. Letting out soft moans as she tugged at the gray tee shirt he wore underneath, Carlos let go of her waist only long enough to remove his shirt before quickly attempting to return to the taste of her skin, only to be stopped by a finger pressed to his lips as she looked over his body. She had known from the moment she had first laid eyes on him that he maintained a particularly muscular physique from the way his clothes outlined every dip and curve of his body, but her imagination could never have lived up to just how beautiful he actually was.

Thick, curly hair covered his chest as dog tags rested between between his pecks, drawing her eyes down towards his defined abs and the trail of hair that began again before leading into his jeans. She ran finger tips over previous wounds that had now healed into scars that were strewn about his body, admiring how the marks had somehow made his body even more appealing to her.

"You gonna ask me how I got 'em?" He asked in a low voice.

"I can already tell how you did." She answered, briefly looking to him before returning to the scars. "A bullet graze..." She commented on the light mark that ran across his upper arm, "A knife cut..." She said about a thin slice mark under his right peck, "A stab wound..."

"-That one was actually from falling out of a tree as a kid," He corrected, fondling the mark beside his navel, "Branch went right into me."

"How heroic." She said with a sarcastic smile.

"Let's see yours, then."

Grabbing the bottom of her shirt, she pulled the fabric over her head and tossed it onto the floor beside his clothes, revealing her own scars. He ran his calloused fingers over her skin just as she had done to him, looking over the marks as he pointed to the particularly prominent ones, "How'd you get this one?" He asked.

"Bullet went through me."

"And this one?" He asked as he flipped over her hand and pointed out a mark on her forearm.

"A cigarette burn from a boy in highschool."

"Asshole," He said in an indignant tone before meeting her gaze once again. Lightly brushing the hair out her face, he commented on the partially healed gash across her forehead, "I noticed this one earlier while you were playing, it still looks pretty new..."

"Yeah, that one was-" She sighed before continuing, "That one was from the night I had an... _incident_ with company I'm investigating." 

"The hell kinda pharmaceutical company you dealin' with?" He asked, surprised by the violence that had apparently gone on between her and the mysterious company she spoke of. 

Jill simply shook her head in response as she looked to him with eyes that told him that she just wanted to forget about the situation, causing him to place a gentle kiss on the wound in an act of understanding. Turning his attention to the burn on her forearm, he looked to her as he held her arm, placing a soft kiss on the scar before pecking a trail up her arm, signaling to her that he wouldn't ask anything more for the night as she relaxed back into the previous bliss of his touch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished up this chapter, now onto the final one! Thanks for sticking around this long <3


	4. S.T.A.R.S.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With her trip to Europe closing in, Jill decides that she can't hide the truth of her work from Carlos any longer as this AU comes to a close.

"You know, I'm starting to think you might like me." Carlos muttered as he ran his fingers through Jill's hair, a cigarette resting between his lips. 

Looking up to him while she rested her head on his chest, she inquired, "And what makes you think that?" 

"Well, this is the fifth night I've stayed at your place without you kicking me out," He noted, letting out a puff of smoke as he spoke, "You let me keep a spare toothbrush in your barhroom," He continued, "And I've seen the way you look at me when you think I'm asleep." 

Jill smiled at this. Carlos had been coming over to her apartment a lot lately and though they hadn't put an official label on it, it was clear that they had become each other's person. 

Carlos would always show up at her door step with takeout whenever he had a night off from the bar so that they could eat together, knowing she would never order anything for herself while she was working. If he ever actually was gone from her apartment, Jill would find herself missing his company. She had even been considering giving him a key to the apartment, an act of trust in which she had never given to anyone else. 

Maybe she was starting to like him. 

Sitting up, she climbed onto his lap and took the cigarette from between his lips and placed it between her own, "What can I say, you do have your perks." 

"Do I?" He asked, putting his hands on her hips while he looked to her sitting above him.

"Sure," She replied as she took a drag, "Free drinks, good sex, even better cooking." She smiled before leaning down to kiss him.

"Mm, I knew I was good for something. I don't know what you'll do without me when you're in Europe." He said between their kisses, causing Jill's heart to sink. "How long do you planning on being gone, anyways?" He inquired.

"Yeah, about that," She replied as she placed the cig in the ashtray on her bedside table before climbing off his lap and sitting beside him on the bed. "Can we talk?"

She of course knew by now that she could trust Carlos with her life if it came down to it, and she knew that she eventually needed to tell him about Umbrella sooner or later, yet the subject was one that she continued to put off. With the days closing in until she would leave for Europe for God only knows how long, she decided that the conversation couldn't be put off any longer, no matter how insane she may seem afterwards. It was time for Carlos to know the truth about her work.

"You're not leaving me, are you?" He asked as he propped himself on one arm, "I know my singing isn't the best, but you gotta admit my guitar isn't that bad."

"What? No, that's not-"

He chuckled, "I'm just messing with you," He assured before taking her hand in his, "What'd you wanna talk about?"

Looking down at his hand over top of hers as his thumb stroked her skin, she felt her anxiety subside as she took a deep breath. _Now or never, just spit it out, Jill._

"I-"

As she went to speak, a loud crash from the apartment's corridor interrupted her.

"Jesus, what the Hell was that?" Carlos asked as he sat up alarmed.

"That was more than just the neighbors fighting again." She responded as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up straight. "Grab the gun from under the bed." She instructed as she reached for the pistol beside the ashtray, knocking it onto the ground and shattering it in the process.

"Why do you-" Carlos began before stopping himself. He trusted Jill's instincts enough to not ask questions and simply follow her lead.

The sound of heavy footsteps could be heard decending down the hall as the two assumed a soldiers stance. Both aiming their weapons in the direction of the noise, the sound of heavy boots became louder with each step before halting outside of the apartment door, pausing for a briefest of moments. Before either of them had time to comprehend what was happening, a thunderous crash of dry wall and rubble filled the room as an inhuman monster stood before them, letting out a bellowing roar.

" ** _STAAARRSS!_** "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know I had to bring it all back to the beginning of RE3. Hopefully this was a nice little cliff hanger to leave the story on, I really enjoyed working on my first ever AU, so I hope you guys enjoyed it, too! Felt like it took me years to actually finish it, but we got there lol. Thanks for all the love and support through it and happy holidays to everyone! <3

**Author's Note:**

> No matter the universe these two meet in, I think they'll always start off on the wrong foot lol.  
>  Just a short little first chapter, next one will be much longer and should be out soon. I've gotten most of it written, but I still need to work on the smutty aspect of it, which always takes me forever.   
>  I've come to find out this account is just about trying new things, so I'm trying out writing my first AU. Still trying to figure out how much of the canon story I should include and what things to play with in an AU, so cut me some slack lol.   
>  Anyways, thank you so much for reading and I'll get that next chapter out asap! <3


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